Kicking an Anthill
by Alphyn
Summary: After the successful destruction of the Collector threat, Shepard and his new lover, Tali'Zorah, can finally kick back and relax - until they get a call from Councillor Anderson, explaining that an Alliance mining camp has recently gone silent...
1. Chapter I

**A/N:** _I would like to ask that you review this chapter, and give me any criticisms you may have so that I can improve in the next chapter. Thanks for checking out, anyway!_

_Enjoy!  
_

~Alphyn_  
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* * *

**MASS EFFECT: KICKING AN ANTHILL**

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* * *

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The planet "Untantk" wasn't exactly what Tali would call "paradise", as their krogan friends on Sunny Tuchanka had made it out to be; perhaps it was the red, overcast sky that had loomed over their heads since their shuttle came into its orbit. Tali had seen worse looking worlds, although she couldn't remember their names, she certainly remembered their environments: places like this often meant the current mission is going to either be suicidal or just like any other mission she had been on, and she had seen plenty – though she certainly wouldn't call herself a veteran; that was Shepard's role, or Garrus' if you count being in C-Sec for 5+ years, which she did.

But there was a certain charm that Untantk had that Tali couldn't ignore; like the huge scar on Zaeed's face, it told many stories. This world had certainly seen war, and a lot of it. As if all life from Untantk had been completely wiped out. The word "Reaper" and images of The Battle of the Citadel flashed into her mind, but she quickly repressed them. She needed to stay focused on the mission. It was then she realised she had forgotten what they were doing here in the first place. _Maybe your time with Shepard and Garrus have made you a bit more foolish than when you started out, _she thought, but she didn't like the angry, rational voice that sometimes sprouted out when she had someone to blame, and she suppressed it without a second thought. She finally decided to ask.  
"So, um... Shepard, can you remind me why we're here?" she asked, thankfully not in the same tone her thoughts had.

"We're here because some Alliance mining team reported that they had found something they think I should see. The call came directly from Councillor Anderson, so it's either something to do with the Reapers or it's something entirely different. Either way, I want eyes on it the entire time."  
Shepard replied, both to Tali and Garrus, who was asleep. Tali couldn't blame him, the ride had been rather long and quite boring. She knew she should of got that damned music player plug-in for her Omni-tool, but she just didn't have time, or the need to listen to music. She wanted to stay professional, even if it meant terrible boredom. But hey, it could be worse, but she refused to play another game of 'Tic-Tac-Toe'. But she was able to get about two minutes of fun guiding her crosshairs around her visor. It drained her solar batteries a bit, but they would soon recharge once they landed on the nearly apocalyptic surface of Untantk, the ever-raging sandstorms that eternally plagued the world since it was discovered by the Hubble Telescope, still beaming to NASA's laboratories back on Earth.

The system was offered to the residents of Tuchanka as an effort to help humanity look much more well-versed in Intergalactic Policies, as well as to make the newly discovered turians look bad. Humanity is still sore over the First Contact Wars, but they were recovering none the less. Tali found it amazing that a human and a turian would become like brothers to one another. She didn't always approve when Garrus got Shepard drunk on the Normandy, but it was all in good fun, and she'd be lying if she said that he hadn't convinced her to have a few too. _Maybe Shepard's negotiation skills had rubbed off onto him_,_ s_he thought. But still, she had about six minutes left of being strapped to her chair to avoid floating around the cramped cabin, then the atmospheric entry, which almost always made her feel like throwing up inside her helmet, despite the Mass Effect generators trying their best to stop her ramming her head into the ceiling, high though it was. Sometimes, though, she got a bit more worried about the generators than her brains. They drove themselves to the point of nearly exploding, hell, one caught fire last week, and they were stuck in orbit of a desolate moon. She worried that everyone was pushing mass effect technology to its limits, and, soon, they would try something a bit too risky, and they would all pay the price.

* * *

The thud and crackle of the unfortunate insects that had been caught within the Kodiak's frame shook Tali's current thoughts from her mind until she had completely forgotten them. They don't matter any more, though. At least it woke Garrus up. Tali clipped the seat's belt away from her abdomen and stretched her entire body, making herself fit for when the need arises. She grabbed her trusted shotgun from the shuttle's weapon storage, checked it through thoroughly, making sure that the thermal clip's heat reserve was optimal, _all 8 rounds, good_, she thought, and let the shotgun fold neatly as she clipped it to the back end of her hips, slightly above her butt. She was ready. Perhaps a little too quickly as she saw that Garrus hadn't budged from his sleeping place with his arms still folded. Shepard wasn't exactly different either, though he was standing at least. An audible crack from Shepard's neck slightly echoed in the shuttle's small space, but it was enough to make Garrus open his eyes.

"Aw, jeez, I was having the most wonderful dream, guys." Garrus quipped. Tali wasn't sure if he was joking or trying to get Shepard to feel sorry for him, maybe allowing him to stay on the shuttle and steal himself another hand full of sleep. Garrus wasn't lazy, though, and he did enjoy a good gun fight. And Tali had a feeling they'd be seeing plenty here. Shepard grabbed his M8 assault rifle and did all the required checks on the weapon. It was fine. He moved over to the folded grenade launcher and slid it onto his back, along with his rifle. He then grabbed his pistol, and without checking it, slapped it onto his left side. Shepard would normally carry two more weapons than this: a sniper and a shotgun, but during their recent mission, a krogan had charged into Shepard, crushing him against a metal barrier and crumpling the weapons he had on his back; his sniper, shotgun, and missile launcher until they were nothing more than pieces of gun metal akin to scrapped car skeletons. Thanks to Shepard's re-enforced cybernetic body and bones, he recovered fairly quickly, the weapons, however, couldn't be salvaged. Tali just hoped he wouldn't need them today. Garrus was the last to be ready, but he was ready rather quickly, seeing as though he didn't bother to check his weapons. _He either really trusts them, or he's a complete idiot_, Tali joked in her mind.

"Helmet's on," Shepard ordered, particularly at Garrus. "That sandstorm is really blowing."  
"Roger." Garrus complied.  
"The mining camp is a few klicks north-west. Everyone stay tight, and keep within each other's field of view. Here we go."

Shepard opened the shuttle's door, and a huge gust of wind caught the trio by surprise, but they shortly recovered and quickly exited the shuttle. Tali's visor allowed her to have a clear outline of Shepard and Garrus on her HUD, along with their shield and vital stats. All Tali needed to do was follow them, but the sheer force of the wind was making them move at a snail's pace, perhaps not even that. Garrus was in the centre of the pack; though he checked up on Tali, making sure she was still there from time to time. She wasn't surprised. This wind could lift the largest quarian commando off his feet. Fortunately, her shotgun weighed her down, and quarians were a lot lighter than a turian, or human (though not by a lot), so Shepard and Garrus needn't worry. But Tali could have been lifted away. Good thing she brought extra thermal clips. Those things were really heavy, especially for a shotgun. But were they heavy enough? Well, only one way to find out, she just hoped she'd be able to tell the tale. As always, Shepard was leading the pack. His helmet didn't have much of a HUD; just thermal clip capacity, an electronic compass and the status of his current team. All the important information he would need for his team to survive, and for him too, as well.

The noise of the gale winds was boring into each other's helmets, fortunately, for Tali, she was able to turn off her helmet's noise receptors. Though the thought that she might need them lingered in her mind. Perhaps she should of told Shepard before she- "Okay... we're nearly... just... on." The loud crackle of static and barely audible reassurances from Shepard shook her previous thought from her head, and she was glad it was gone.

Garrus was the first to respond, though Tali didn't hear a word from the interference the sandstorms were causing. She was sure it was a sarcastic comment of some sort, asking Shepard to remind him to never go on a mission like this again – and how sand was caught in his armour's orifices. It certainly looked that way, from the way Garrus would occasionally stop and start again. Lights with a slight red tinge loomed in the distance, "What is it with the colour red today? Keelah, my suit is going to be full of sand after this." She complained, but jokingly. She knew no one would hear her, but she didn't like complaining none the less. Especially in Shepard's presence. She wanted to keep up a good impression, and remain professional. Although, since their time together before hitting the Omega 4 Relay, she'll admit that she had developed a slightly more laid-back feeling towards missions now. She felt more confident around Shepard. Well, she always did, but now, seeing as they're together, Tali felt that she could joke more often. But it wasn't the same story with Shepard: when he's on a mission, that is one of his top priorities, as well as the safety of his team. He couldn't find himself joking about a mission very often, but he does try. He often makes a sarcastic comment or two when the balance is in his favour, but most of the time he just gets the job done without even saying a word, except to lead and maintain his squad.

The trio finally made it to the encampment, and were relived to feel solid ground again and the feeling of sand being thrown at their faces stopped. Tali's decorative purple clothing on her suit all had tiny rips across them all, and some of the purple was replaced with a dusty sandy colour across her right side. The leather from her suit was mostly unaffected, though she was still dusty. As she brushed herself off, she noticed the damage that the sandstorms had caused.

"Keelah, that is sharp sand." She commented.  
"There might be some debris in there too," Shepard said.  
"Anyway, let's find this thing and try and head home tonight."

Garrus and Tali both nodded in unison. They weren't going to go out there again, considering all the debris that nearly shredded Tali's skin if it weren't for her strong enviro-suit – she just wish she could say the same about her clothing. She had spares, but the clothing held a sentimental feeling to her: the pattern was unique, designed by her father and was tailored by the finest. Her farther insisted that the quarian tailors always made spares for her, should any get damaged or destroyed. The original clothing had been destroyed a long time ago, but she still scolded herself about it from time to time. Her pattern had undergone subtle changes over the years she had it, but it was always the same swirly design and colour.

As they made their way through the camp's reception, they noticed that there was no receptionist and that the door touring them through the camp was locked. Shepard moved over to the reception desk and pressed an holographic button which sent out a small chime.

No answer...

Shepard pressed it once more but for slightly longer, sending out a longer chime.

Still no answer...

"Hmmm... I don't like this," Shepard commented.  
"Maybe she's on a break?" Garrus answered.  
"She?" Tali said in a feign anger, obviously offended by her team-mate's sexist ignorance that all receptionists are, in fact, female. "So you think that all receptionists are female, huh?"  
"Hey, I'm not sexist. It's just that... most receptionists are female, y'know?"

Tali shook her head in disappointment. "Do you want me to hack that door, Shepard?"  
"That'd be great Tali." Shepard responded to the quarian.

Tali moved over to the door and knelt down to the holographic interface that acted like a door-knob to access the door's wiring. Hacking a door like this was as easy a pie; all she needed to do was attach one wire-pin to another, and then it'd open – the one on the Collector Base was the hardest, though. There were so many pins and wires that anyone else would've gotten confused with the thousands of symbols in front of them, and most likely jam the door. And taking fire from the Collectors would've made the job even harder. However, Tali trusted Shepard and his team: she knew that he wouldn't let anything happen to her... not after what he said the night-

The door opened with a sudden jolt and the interface disappeared. Tali stood back up and motioned to Shepard and Garrus that she was done. She tried for a brief second to remember what she was thinking about, but decided to leave it and stay focused.

Shepard walked into the door, followed by Tali, only to see another locked door at the end of a downhill corridor. _This is going to be a long mission_, Tali complained in her thoughts.


	2. Chapter II

The door bolted open, revealing the living-quarters and mess-hall of the mine. All completely empty with no signs of battle or anything, as if the mining crew got up and left their lives here. Did this device do something to them? There was only one way to find out.

"Where is everyone?" Tali questioned.

"Not sure. Is anyone else getting flashbacks about the Collectors?" Garrus asked jokingly.

"Weapons up," Shepard ordered. "I've got a feeling this device we're looking for did something to the mining crew."

"Of course. It had to be something _really_ cliché like that, didn't it?" Garrus quipped.

The trio folded out their respective weapons and followed Shepard deep into the encampment, but Tali was surprised of the lack of locked doors, as if someone wanted them to advance. She couldn't quell the feeling in her gut that this was a trap of some kind.

"Shepard," Tali finally spoke up. "I think this is a trap. Every door we've been though hasn't been locked or anything. Maybe the other two were locked to keep intruders out?"

"She's right, Shepard. I don't like this." Garrus backed.

"I don't like it either guys," Shepard admitted. "But we don't have much of a choice; this device could either destroy all life as we know it somehow, or be a valuable weapon against the Reaper fleet."

Tali didn't like this one bit. They were coming into a completely obvious trap set by someone or something to find a device no one knows about or has any idea it even exists. _Just like old times_, Tali said in her mind, lightening her mood slightly.

* * *

The next door opened, showing a completely pitch black room and a foul stench reeked from the door. Tali quickly found herself turning off her helmet's smell receptors and administering anti-nausea medication. The smell took everyone by surprise, but Garrus and Shepard would have to fight through the stench and the feeling in their guts.

"Keelah, _what is that_?" Tali asked, barley audible from her splutters.

Shepard activated his onmi-tool's flash-light, and saw that the room's slate grey walls were coated in dry blood and some relatively new fluids that he didn't even recognise. He didn't see any bodies, though. Shepard stepped through the door, _thank God it's solid ground._ He was half-joking and half-relieved. He slowly took another step forward, Tali and Garrus followed, but he motioned for them to stay at the door.

"What are you doing, Shepard?" Tali asked in concern.

"Just stay there." Shepard ordered.

"Shepard..." Tali sighed, and leaned forward to follow him, but Garrus stopped her briskly.

"He'll be fine." Garrus comforted, tears still in his eyes from the reek of dead human. Or, at least he prayed it to be human, if nothing else, at least he could take that. Humans tend to be a little less emotionally scarring, unless it was a child or that the victim had been burned to death. Or both.

Shepard took another slow step into the seeming pit of human remains, breathing through his mouth the entire time; the smell was just too much to bare. Sometimes, he wished he could turn off his helmet's smell receptors too, just like Tali's. It didn't stop him having a horrible arid feeling in his mouth and the slightest hint of the reek he was trying to avoid.

Yet another slow, agonising step was taken. Each time, Shepard's prayers that he didn't step on something became louder in his head. Each successful step brought him to question his faith in an otherworldly presence, or lack of thereof.

However...

_Squelch._

As soon as that horrible noise hit his eardrums, Shepard stepped back into the door-frame in one fluid motionand raised his foot to see what he had stepped on, or _in._

A cockroach.

_Oh, my God. I'm such a pansy_, Shepard scolded himself. He had had enough and asked for Tali and Garrus to activate their flash-lights as well and search the room for anything odd. He also asked Tali to see if she could get the lights working again, because stepping around in a dark room with blood stains painting the walls wasn't ideal. He just prayed that the horrible room didn't contain bodies stacked against the walls. _Not only would that be cliché,_ Shepard thought, _but it'd ruin my day as well._

Various squelches were heard throughout the room. The team just prayed that they were more cockroaches – but it did make them wonder why cockroaches were in here in the first place. Maybe it's best not to know, but that didn't stop them from thinking the worst; they knew that something had died in here, that much was obvious, but how many was the real bother for them.

* * *

Tali cursed the room's lights – she had tried everything to get them on again, but some part of her didn't want to see what was lying in this very room. There could be dozens of human bodies in here; men, women, children even. It made her sick to her stomach how a child, new to this galaxy and life altogether, could be killed in such a disgusting way. Or worse yet, they could've died in this room: starved of clean air, water, food, everything a basic life-form needs to survive each day. _Bosh'tets._

"Sorry, Shepard – these lights aren't going to work." Tali apologized to the commander.

"No big deal; I wasn't planning on finding out what is in here anyway." Shepard said with a hint of relief. "Let's just find this damn thing and get back home."

_Home_, Tali echoed in her mind. _The Normandy is my home... our home._ Tali drew a large smile across her lips; she felt safe on the Normandy, after a life of wondering the stars endlessly in search of a new home, she had found just that: a home to call her own. She was no longer a nomad quarian on her Pilgrimage: she had found someone to love, somewhere to live... and it's all because of Shepard. Anything he did to help her even more than he already had always made her happy, no matter what she was doing or what had happened. _He even made my console on Engineering read out in quarian, _Tali thought,_ Keelah, Shepard, my people need someone like you in all our lives._

Tali held back the flood of joyful tears, but she couldn't help let a few escape – everything Shepard had done for her... for her people, she knew she could _never_ repay him. _He probably wouldn't want anything, anyway, _she let out a suppressed giggle, making Shepard turn around to face her.

"Is there something wrong, Tali?" Shepard asked with a hint of concern.

"No... there's _absolutely_ nothing wrong, Shepard – thank you..." Tali began to well up again.

Shepard heard the wide smile and the slight tightness in her voice, he moved over to her and placed a hand on the side of her helmet, "Are you sure?" he said softly with a slight grin on his face.

"Yes... but I want to talk to you when we get back home," Tali replied, trying to make her voice sound seductive, but the tightness in her chest made it barely noticeable. She moved closer to Shepard, pressing against his shoulder, "Just... thank you..."

Shepard slowly rubs a hand across the back of Tali's hood, and presses his visor against hers, symbolizing a kiss of some sort.

_Keelah, it's hot in here... ugh, stay focused, dammit!_

_

* * *

_

The rest of the camp wasn't nearly as dark or eerie, in fact, it was quite well decorated; with separate areas of the encampment being marked out with their own respective colour, and each area had their own unique plants, some even with tiny ponds, though the all the fish that once lived in them had died, obviously from starvation.

Surprisingly, the areas weren't messy or destroyed in any way; desks weren't overturned, files were neatly folded, even the ponds didn't have a speck of grime, moss or any other filth in them, apart from the fishes themselves. The water in them was still sparkling clean, as if it was brand new.

"Perhaps we're dealing with a husk with OCD or something, eh?" Garrus joked, his knowledge of human defects and disorders was surprising to Shepard and Tali. Though Tali had been told what OCD was by Shepard, Garrus must've found out about it on his own.

"How do you know what OCD is?" Shepard questioned.

"I heard Miranda and Jacob chatting about a thing called "OCD", so I asked Dr. Chakwas what it was."

"Right. Well, you make a good point: this place is quite clean... a little too clean, if you ask me."

"That doesn't make any sense, Shepard." Tali quipped, giggling slightly. She didn't know if Shepard was joking or being serious, but either way, it was making her smile.

"Let's stay focused, shall we?" Shepard jokingly snapped back. "We still need to find this thing. Let's head to the mines."

"Agreed; we've spent too much time just eyeing up the place." Garrus said.

"My thoughts exactly. I've said it before, and I'll say it once more: let's find this damn device and get out of here."

* * *

"What are you saying, Vurtt?" Liara T'Soni asked in a hasty, soft voice.

"I'm saying that I saw your old friend, Commander Shepard, heading to Untantk." Replied Vurrt in his usual, deep voice. Not uncommon among krogan.

"Why would Shepard go there?"

"I dunno. Somethin' about Alliance mining teams uncovering something. Apparently, it's big enough for Shepard to come and see what it is."

There was a pause between the both of them. Liara was standing behind what used to be the Shadow Broker's terminal. Well, it still is, but Liara had taken his place.

"I know what you're thinking, T'Soni: you want to go out there and see if he'll survive." The krogan said, in a slightly mocking, sarcastic tone.

"Yes, but I also need to know what this thing is that the Alliance has uncovered. I promised Shepard that I would help him with the Reapers. I owe him that much, Vurrt." Liara responded to the krogan's sarcastic words.

"Then send me there. I don't wanna see a pretty young thing like yourself get hurt."

"I can take care of myself, Kurrt. But thank you for offering."

"Look, T'Soni, Untankt is a death trap. Shepard and anyone with him are lucky that they haven't been cut up by a sandstorm, if they haven't already. I'm closer to there, anyway. Let me go. I'm krogan, you're asari. Uh, no offence..." Vurrt stated as a matter of factly. Liara was less likely to survive the brutal, oncoming sandstorms, and she knew it, especially without any type of enviosuit or armour. At least the krogan had their huge frame and cell-regeneration.

With a sigh, Liara agreed for Vurrt to go. _By the goddess, be safe... _


End file.
